Puget Sound Tide Chart 2026: Seattle & Port Townsend Low-Tide Calendar

As of September 19, Seattle (NOAA 9447130) has no minus-tide window with at least 30 minutes of daylight overlap remaining in 2026. Port Townsend (9444900) has one: October 5, −0.23 ft MLLW at 5:48 AM, before sunrise, with 39 daylight minutes later in the window. Below are both stations' September–October high-and-low charts, the historical summer dates, and the 2027 return schedule. A modeled window is not a beach-access guarantee.

The last run of 2026: September 5–10

September 5–10 was Seattle's final run of minus-tide windows with at least 30 minutes of daylight overlap in 2026 — six straight mornings, now past. This historical table retains the season's close-out dates (verified 2026-09-19 against NOAA station 9447130 predictions). The modeled interval can include darkness; it is not a confirmed walking route or opening-hours window.

Port Townsend ran the same mornings roughly 50 minutes earlier and a shade deeper through the holiday: Saturday, September 5, was −1.01 ft at 5:05 AM (a dawn squeeze — only 70 minutes of the window were lit), Sunday the 6th was −1.08 ft at 6:15 AM (score 74), and Labor Day peaked the run at −1.11 ft at 7:20 AM (window 5:00–10:05 AM, score 80) — the deepest daylight water of the season's final act at either station. Its last two days match Seattle's: Wednesday the 9th at −0.68 ft (9:08 AM) and Thursday the 10th at −0.08 ft (9:52 AM).

Seattle tide chart: September–October 2026

The chart below covers September 9–October 31 for NOAA station 9447130 — every predicted extreme, not just lows with daylight overlap. September 9–18 is retained for reference; September 19 onward is the current planning range. Times are local Pacific time and heights are feet relative to MLLW. A negative low is below that reference level, not proof of access. Notice the September 29–30 minus tides: they occur around 1–2 AM.

Computed 2026-09-19 from NOAA station 9447130 predictions via the daily-extremes fact sheet. The September calendar for Seattle retains the full month; the October calendar carries the next month's complete chart. Both refresh daily.

September's deepest low at Seattle is −1.47 ft on the 30th at 1:41 AM. The month's deepest low with a qualifying daylight window was Tuesday the 8th's −1.02 ft. Neither number establishes beach access.

Port Townsend tide chart: September–October 2026

The same September 9–October 31 range for NOAA station 9444900, retaining the earlier September rows for reference. Compare each date directly: the roughly 50-minute difference on the summer dates is not a fixed offset for every high or low.

Computed 2026-09-19 from NOAA station 9444900 predictions via the daily-extremes fact sheet. The September calendar for Port Townsend retains the full month; the October calendar carries the next month's complete chart. Both refresh daily.

October–December 2026: the tide keeps going, daylight doesn't

The tide keeps producing lows below +1 ft all season — 19 to 25 per month at both stations. What collapses after summer is daylight:

Computed 2026-09-19 from NOAA station 9447130 and 9444900 predictions; counts cover July 1–December 31, not the full year. A daylight window has at least 30 minutes of daylight overlap in the modeled below-1-ft interval. The low itself may fall before sunrise or after sunset.

Sum the Seattle columns: 53 daylight windows from July through December, against 126 lows below +1 ft (24 + 21 + 19 + 20 + 21 + 21) — about 42%. And 33 of the 39 qualifying minus-tide windows (85%) are packed into July and August. October's best Seattle candidate (October 5, a +0.10 ft low at 6:42 AM) scores 22 and sits in our "Skip" band; Port Townsend's same-morning low is a genuine minus tide, −0.23 ft at 5:48 AM, but it bottoms out before sunrise with about 39 minutes of lit window — also a Skip. The year heatmap makes this seasonal change easy to see.

Meanwhile the deepest water of the whole stretch arrives after dark:

That Christmas Eve −3.93 ft at Seattle is deeper than the July 14 daylight low (−3.80 ft), but it occurs at night. For the high-water side of winter, see the dated predictions and viewing context in the Washington king tides guide.

When were the deepest daylight lows in July–December 2026?

One run in mid-July did most of the work. Seattle's eight deepest lows with qualifying daylight windows in our July–December range fell within two clusters — July 12–16 and August 10–12, both now in the record books:

Computed 2026-07-03 from NOAA station 9447130 predictions.

Port Townsend (NOAA station 9444900) ran the same script 53 to 56 minutes earlier: its deepest qualifying daylight low in the July–December range was −3.48 ft on Tuesday, July 14, at 10:25 AM, with −3.48 ft on the 13th, −3.10 ft on the 15th, and −3.10 ft on Sunday the 12th.

Notice the drift in the table. Seattle's low stepped from 9:40 AM on July 12 to 10:31, 11:20, 12:08, then 12:55 by July 16 — about 47 to 51 minutes later each day. The September run drifted the same way: 5:55 AM on the Saturday, then 7:05, 8:12, 9:12, 10:04, 10:51 by the Thursday. That drift is the villain of the next section.

How many of the deepest lows landed on a weekend?

Count the weekday column above: two Mondays, two Tuesdays, two Wednesdays, one Thursday, one Sunday. That's 1 weekend day out of 8, or 12.5%. Run the same count on Port Townsend's four deepest daylight lows (July 14, 13, 15, 12) and you get the same lone Sunday: 1 of 4.

This isn't bad luck; it's arithmetic. Deep lows arrive in runs of four or five consecutive days around a new or full moon, and each day's low lands roughly 50 minutes later than the last. A run occupies whatever stretch of the week it occupies — and five consecutive days can touch at most two weekend days, usually fewer. In 2026 the big July run opened on a Sunday and spent its deepest three days on Monday through Wednesday.

Here are four selected weekend-and-holiday highlights from that July–September run — all now in the past, not a complete annual list:

Computed 2026-07-03 from NOAA station 9447130 and 9444900 predictions; Labor Day 2026 fell on Monday, September 7.

All four scored 77 or better on our 0–100 window scale; July 11 and 12 scored a flat 100 at both stations. The 2027 return schedule offers more dates to compare below.

When do daylight minus tides return in 2027?

Here's the ladder back, rechecked 2026-09-19 across the available January–October 2027 predictions. "Daylight" again means at least 30 minutes of overlap in the modeled interval, not that the low instant is in daylight. Good, Great and Exceptional describe Tidewindow scores, not verified access conditions.

Three things worth noting. First, both initial returns bottom out after sunset; their daylight overlap comes before the low. Second, April 10–11, 2027, is an Exceptional weekend at both stations — Saturday −1.92 ft and Sunday −1.80 ft at Seattle, both early-afternoon. That is not unique: July 11–12, 2026, also scored Exceptional at both stations. Third, the July 4 low is −3.93 ft in the late morning of a Sunday holiday, matching Christmas Eve 2026's nighttime low to the hundredth of a foot, this time in daylight. The June 5–6, 2027, weekend is nearly as deep (−3.83/−3.89 ft at Seattle).

Seattle or Port Townsend?

Same moon, different clock. Port Townsend's lows run about 50 minutes ahead of Seattle's — 7:20 AM versus 8:12 AM on Labor Day — and its windows stretch longer once the sun is fully up: on Tuesday, September 8, Port Townsend got 251 minutes of daylight window against Seattle's 220. Early risers and photographers get more room to work up north.

For place-specific context, use our Constellation Park tide pools guide and Port Townsend guide, including their linked park sources. Recent observations within 5 km of the Seattle station include 13 sightings of horned nudibranchs and 7 of white-lined dironas in the last 60 days (station data refreshed 2026-09-19); these are nearby records, not a sighting promise. Full date lists and seven-day high/low tables live on the Seattle station page and the Port Townsend station page; the October calendar for Seattle and for Port Townsend retain the full daily high-and-low schedules.

What does a modeled window tell you?

The model's arrive-by label is an hour before the predicted low, not an opening time or a route-specific safe-arrival instruction. For example, Seattle's April 10, 2027, low is 2:02 PM, giving a model label of 1:02 PM. The National Park Service's Point Reyes guidance says "at least an hour before low tide." That advice concerns Point Reyes; it does not establish access, turnaround times or conditions at a Puget Sound beach. The linked local guides and park authorities provide the place-specific context. Tidepooling With Kids is another planning reference.

Planning a trip around one of the 2027 runs rather than a single day? The trip picker finds the multi-day stretches across every station we cover. And if you'd rather not check back, the calendar feeds page has subscribable 12-month feeds for Seattle and Port Townsend that put every Good-or-better window straight into your calendar app — the April weekend will simply appear when it's close. Tide heights and times come from NOAA's harmonic predictions; the methodology page documents the window model.

Seattle's 2026 minus-tide windows with qualifying daylight overlap ended in September; Port Townsend retains one marginal October overlap. The 2027 return begins with after-sunset lows and earlier daylight overlap, then builds toward the April weekend. The charts and feeds track predictions, while local access and conditions remain separate checks.